Watcher 341: The Life of Harry Potter
by Half-Blood Rod
Summary: The Watchers have always been there. Observing and recording the events of the ages in the Great Annals of History. This is a true account of the secret records kept by one of the Watchers on Harry Potter, his Gift and the events surrounding his life.
1. Prologue

Author's Note and Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the associated characters and anything that looks even vaguely familiar are property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers. I will not profit out of this literary work if it can be called that. However a nice review once in a while will be much appreciated.

Watcher 341: The life of Harry Potter.

Prologue

As recorded by Watcher 341 and reported to the rest of the network.

The Watchers have always been there. Overlooking the events of the ages. We do not intercede - we watch, we observe, we record and report history. I have spent thousands of years watching these mortals. Even though I am one of the youngest, I do feel restless. How have the Elder Watchers done this for millennia untold? Watch events unfold at such pace, watch the world change more in an instant than in a century and yet feel nothing. 128 had once told me that there would be days like these. He told me I would get over this impatience as I got older. Older. He always had a wry sense of humor. He had watched and he had observed. He once told me he was there when the first of the mortals had shown the sparks of the Gift. And then watched them for thousands of years in which they managed nothing more. At least my current assignment would not be as dull. No, the boy's life would be more eventful than most. I could feel it. So could 128 – he had told me this nearly 10 sun cycles ago.

My current assignment was a young boy called Harry James Potter. 10 years old, an orphan, and one of the Gifted, or wizards as they called themselves - he had already had weaved himself into the annals of history.

He was one of the _Supras_. Individuals whose little actions and decisions started a ripple around them. And then waves. The last sun 10 cycles had been peaceful enough apart from the first day. The day he became an orphan and was placed here. The day I was assigned to him. Yet I could see time speeding up. Ready to bring forwards the events that would come to pass. Soon. Very soon.

Ahhh, I think I see an owl flying towards the house. Its time.


	2. Chapter 1: The Gift

**Author's Note and Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the associated characters and anything that looks even vaguely familiar are property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers. However 341 and 128 are mine. I will not profit out of this literary work if it can be called that. However a nice review once in a while will be much appreciated. This is a chapter that will explain a lot of new things and tie up with the prologue. From the next chapter we will find the familiar characters we all love and I do not own.**

Watcher 341: The life of Harry Potter.

Chapter 1: The Gift

Details the encounter between Harry and Watcher 128.

As recorded by Watcher 341 in the Hidden Diary.

After his trip back from Diagon Alley, Harry was filled with nervous tension that night. He began wondering if the last few days had been a dream or some cruel trick by the Dursleys. But he soon dismissed those feelings by opening up another one of his books. It was his History of Magic book and since he could not attempt the spells listed in the first book he had opened, Hagrid had warned against trying magic outside of school, he had thought that this book would be a safe choice. And it was far more interesting than any history they had taught him in school – there were Goblin Wars, and dragons, and other magical beasts that he had only thought existed in fantasy. He could not but feel elated to know that there was a whole world there that few had seen and now he was a part of. He could do magic – he was a wizard and had bought books and was going to be taught magic at Hogwarts and... and he had a wand! His very own wand! And for the first time in his life he had a pet too. He had decided to name the beautiful snowy owl Hedwig – a name he had come across in his History book. It seemed appropriate – Hedwig seemed to think so and she had rubbed her head against his finger when he first asked her if she liked the name. She seemed to approve.

And it could not be a cruel trick by the Dursleys. Dudley still had his tail and Harry had overheard the conversation that Uncle Vernon had with Dudley that night. He was forbidden from leaving the house and his friends were not allowed to visit either. Harry, who had never liked Dudley's friends, could not remember such a peaceful time away from the bullies apart from the times he had been locked in the cupboard. The bullies had always gravitated towards Dudley – he was the biggest bully of them all, and they spent most of their summers chasing Harry whenever they could. But now he would have a month of peace. Hagrid's spell on Dudley had also led to some other funnier consequences. Dudley could not sit comfortably anywhere now and was now prone to start twitching whenever Harry entered the same room. As soon as Harry sat down, Dudle would scamper out of the room. Harry could only imagine how uncomfortable it must be for Dudley to sleep in his bed. But the best change that resulted from Hagrid's visit and the new revelations was that the Dursleys had started to ignore Harry and had not spoken to him since his return from Diagon Alley.

The next morning they had let him sleep in late as he had been awake most of last night reading his new books. When he had come down to breakfast sometime after 10, Uncle Vernon had already left for work. Dudley had screeched and then left the table hurriedly. Harry had prepared his own breakfast with no admonishment or reproach from Aunt Petunia and he cooked himself a large meal with eggs, buttered his toast excessively, and then gulped down two glasses of orange juice. He did not even have chores to do and he was left alone in his room with his books the whole day. When he eventually got hungry and came down for lunch he found a plate waiting for him in the kitchen – Dudley and Aunt Petunia had already eaten. After he had finished eating he fought with the idea of leaving the dishes unwashed in the kitchen sink to see how far Aunt Petunia's tolerance would go, but he eventually sighed and washed and dried them.

Things however got slightly interesting in the late afternoon. It was a hot day outside and with all his new wonderful books that he had in his room, Harry was perfectly content to stay inside reading. So it surprised him a little when the doorbell rang as he knew they could not be expecting guests. He peered out the window to see two seemingly well-dressed men at the door. However they all seemed very normal and unimportant and he dismissed them from his mind assuming that they were probably Uncle Vernon's acquaintances or from his firm Grunnings. He was slightly surprised thus when he heard a knock on his door a few minutes later. He opened the door to see Aunt Petunia and the two men he had seen earlier.

Aunt Petunia looked slightly uncomfortable and confused but with a clear voice said, "Boy, these men are here to fix your window."

Harry who had just been at his window a few minutes ago was somewhat surprised and before he could stop himself had said, "There is nothing wrong with the window."

Aunt Petunia had for a moment a look of complete shock and confusion on her face, but before she could say anything the elder gentleman behind her had said, "We are here to fix the broken window. We can fix it right now – it will only take a few minutes. You can wait downstairs while the boy can stay in his room. We will not be a bother."

As he said this, Harry seemed to forget why he had thought the window was not broken and let the men in since they were clearly here to fix the window. Aunt Petunia also looked calm again and while she walked away she said, "I will wait downstairs and let you do your work."

Harry had a vague sense of unease regarding all of his Hogwarts books and Hedwig's empty cage lying around his room as the men walked into his room, but he dismissed the feeling and returned to reading his Potions book. He was quite intrigued by the different plants and herbs that were out there with such exotic properties. He was slightly disgusted by a potion's use of chopped up salamander liver, scarabs and pickled slugs while the two men who had come in stood there silently watching him. He vaguely wondered why they were not working, but dismissed the thought as soon as it had come to mind.

After a few minutes the older man spoke, "Harry, please put the book down and listen to me carefully. We are not here to fix the window - we are here to help you. You can even consider us your friends. Please do not be alarmed while I explain who we are and how I will help you."

Suddenly a cloud lifted from Harry's mind. He could see now that the two gentlemen were too well-dressed to be carpenters here to fix the window. The window was fine too – there was nothing wrong with it. He was slightly surprised that he had not noticed that before. But they looked friendly and were here to help him, and he felt a slight compulsion to listen to them so he put his book down, nodded and looked expectantly at the two men. The younger man, who had been silent throughout looked nervous and worried. Harry flashed him a smile, they were friends after all – he did not have to be nervous.

The older of the two smiled at this, "Harry as I have already told you, I am a friend and we are here to help you. My name is 128, and my quiet friend over there is 341. He is not being too talkative but you don't have to worry about that."

Dismissing the annoyed glance the younger man threw at him, he continued, "Yesterday, you found out a lot about your past and the magical world from Hagrid. He of course also told you about the man who murdered your parents – Voldemort and aired his suspicions that Voldemort was not truly gone. Hagrid is correct, Harry. Voldemort is still alive somewhere, hidden, a shadow of what he was but not truly gone. He will manage to regain his powers someday and when he returns, the object of his hatred and wrath will be you. You can understand why, can't you? Ever since you led to his downfall that night 10 years ago, he has been stewing upon this failure and when he finally succeeds in returning to power he will come to destroy you.

"You have strong allies of course – Hogwarts, your school, and Dumbledore will keep you safe. However you too have to learn to be strong to face Voldemort. You will be a powerful wizard Harry, but Voldemort is something completely different – a creature of malice and wickedness whose strength lies beyond any other wizard. I cannot tell what will happen – for the distant future is hidden to all, including us.

"And now, I should tell you who we are. You might have thought 128 was a strange name for a man – it is, but it is appropriate for me as I am hardly a man. 341 and I are a part of a very special group – we call ourselves the Watchers. We are record keepers – charged with writing down the whole of History – of everything that has happened, is happening and will happen. It is ironic as a matter of fact that our own beginnings have been lost to time. I think the earliest Watchers might have done that on purpose. The little we do know is this – our task is essential to how this universe works, and our own existence began outside this known universe." The older Watcher sighed and looked out the window lost in his own thoughts but Harry had noticed a sudden jerk and a look of surprise on the younger Watcher's face. The last bit of information must be known to very few if this was the first time 341 was hearing this.

The older Watcher came out of his reverie and continued, "This is hardly important now – a matter of philosophical debate among the elder Watchers. What is important though is why we are here and to some extent what happened nearly a 1000 years ago. Now you should know that the Cardinal rule among Watchers, the one rule that cannot be broken is that we do not Interfere – we are forbidden from aiding or advising humans. This is the rule I am breaking today. The punishment for this is most severe, but I have been preparing for years, breaking hundreds of our own rules, covering my tracks, all for today.

"You see Harry, my boy, something happened a thousand years ago that only a few know of, and none can explain. Fates and the Universe itself deviated very slightly from the path it was meant to take. An old and wise Watcher noticed this. He tried to explain this to the other Watchers but we ignored him even though a few of us believed him. You see it went against our Cardinal rule – we could not interfere. The wise Watcher did. He attempted to correct the wrong, to force the Universe back to its original path. He Interfered – and he was caught. Harry, as soon as a Watcher attempts to Interfere, he is caught and his changes are corrected. Our whole system was devised so that it was impossible to Interfere. Or so they think Harry. I am here to not get caught. The Universe needs to be returned to its right path. Thus I am here to help you."

And even though the compulsion to be calm still remained, and even though he felt that he should be silent and hear what the old Watcher had to say, Harry could not stop himself from asking "But why me? Why would helping me fix anything?"

The old Watcher smiled. The boy was bright and had a very strong mind. He was a Supra after all. It was time to reveal the truth.

"Because you are special, Harry. You are what we call a Supra – someone whose simplest actions have ripples that affect the others around him. Harry, you are that – an instrument of the Universe and by helping you I hope to fix the deviation that should never have happened in the first place. I do not know if what I am doing will be enough, but this is all I can do without risking my actions being discovered by the other Watchers. If that happens, they will undo everything I tried to change and the Universe's path will not be fixed.

"I will be punished afterwards of course – I had to plant a hundred different problems elsewhere so as to ensure that they do not catch me Interfering here. Some of those problems will be traced back to me, and I will be put on trial for those. However that will be a small price to pay to get away with what I am going to do now."

"So how will you help me?" Harry asked with some trepidation. Even though he felt oddly calm about this maelstrom of information, there was a slight nervousness creeping in and for some reason the nervousness seemed more appropriate.

"I will be giving you a gift Harry. A very special gift. A Watcher's Gift." The old Watcher smiled at his own pun and continued, "Watchers have a few unique abilities suited to what we do. We can observe details that most people never notice; process thoughts and ideas faster than any human; remember anything we choose to focus on – a near eidetic memory. We can blend into a crowd when we want to and no one would ever notice us. People walk by and forget us the moment they have passed us. Some people also have an interesting habit of believing what we say when we are blending in – of course anyone with a strong mind can break out of it. You have demonstrated that a few times already. And then there is the 'Awareness'."

"Awareness?" mumbled Harry slightly confused.

"Yes. The Awareness is a combination of many things. We have heightened senses – but more so than that – we can focus them, harness them to observe things that may be happening far away. And we have something of a sixth sense as some crudely refer to it for the lack of a better word – the ability to tell when something of importance is going to happen. It is difficult to explain it to someone who cannot feel it. Imagine you had to explain one of your senses to someone. Like any of our other senses, it must be controlled and harnessed. There are Watchers who can focus it to such an extent that they can not only tell of when something of import is about to happen, but they can often tell the nature of this event. It is a very useful skill for a Watcher whose duty is to record History.

"But now we must hurry, I do not have much time. Come here Harry and accept a Watcher's Gift."

As Harry stood in front of the old Watcher, he watched fascinated as 128 brought up his hand and laid his palm on Harry's forehead. He tried to make out what the old Watcher was mumbling but a second later a sharp pain filled his head, and it seemed to Harry that lightning arced through his head electrifying his brain and causing sharp spasms all over his body. Even though it could not have been more than a few seconds, to Harry it felt like eons had passed as he suffered excruciating pain that he could not escape. And then he saw darkness.

"Harry.

"Harry."

Someone was shaking his shoulder trying to wake him up from his sleep, but he did not want to. As he tried to tell the person to leave him alone, he moaned in pain – he could not remember why it hurt, but it hurt everywhere. And then he remembered the Watchers, the Gift and leaped up. The sudden movement did nothing to improve his pain and he nearly collapsed again. The Watchers looked worried, and they must have moved him to his bed – probably when had lost his consciousness. The old Watcher smiled in relief when Harry had leaped up, and eased Harry to a chair.

Rubbing his hands in slight amusement he said, "Sorry, I did not expect the curse scar to cause problems – it was not really supposed to be that painful. However it seems to have worked and Harry you have the Gift now. The next part you might find is slightly more tedious. Even though you have the Gift, you have to practice and learn to harness your new abilities. Trainee watchers are taught to exercise these abilities for hundreds of years before they have honed their skills enough to take on their own assignments. Why, I had 341 for more than a hundred years before he was experienced enough to go off on his own.

"There are several things you have to practice. You need to set yourself small tests to improve your skills. Go outside to places where people know you or where you are out of place. Try to blend in. You want to focus on blending in – project the thought outwards to everyone that you are just another one of them, that you are nobody, that they do not recognize you, that they should not pay attention to you. You will find that people stop paying attention to you then. Also look out of the window once in a while and find something far away. Then focus on it and try to observe all the visual details, focus on the sounds it is making, try to smell it. Then write it down. And don't forget to read your books and try to list down everything. Then describe the items in detail from memory and write it down again."

He rubbed his chin and smiled. "Write it down. Watchers always have the need for writing everything down." His eyes twinkled with delight at the last statement.

Then his face took a grim expression and sighing he said, "Lastly, you will never see me again. You may come across 341 a few times, but you will not notice him. Once we leave, you will not remember our faces or any other details about either of us. All you will remember is we helped you, and that we fixed your window. It is as much for your own safety as ours. But you will still have the Gift. And you will remember the instructions I gave you for your training because you will 'discover them on your own'. To you it will seem like a good idea to do those things." He was grinning again.

With a mischievous smirk towards the younger Watcher he said, "And before we leave, though it is not important, I should explain why 341 has not said a word. He is not being rude – he is usually quite eloquent really. But by not talking or doing anything he is ensuring that he is not Interfering. Only I am."

Then the old Watcher dramatically whispered, "He is a bit too obsessed with keeping his job isn't he?"

Opening the door and letting the younger Watcher walk past him, 128 turned to look at Harry for the last time. "Good luck. The Universe and Fate lies in your hands" he whispered as he closed the door.

As the door shut, Harry turned and looked at the window – those men that left had fixed it. He could not help but think how helpful they were because the window looked exactly like it did before it was broken.

**Additional Notes:**

**Also it would probably help my story if someone volunteered to beta it? Please? I don't expect much - just a quick look through for grammatical errors, convoluted sentences and maybe better structure? Also since the story seems well formed with all the details in my head, an outsider's perspective on missing information or something that is ambiguous.  
>If you have any questions about the Watchers, feel free to ask. I have already prepared a history for them, and in between the main story, I'll probably slip in two chapters that deal with them.<strong>


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